#1 Bright Eyes — The People's Key

I’ve counted down my top 10 albums of the year by posting one album a day for 10 days with an accompanying illustrated lyric.

Number 1 is Bright Eyes with The People's Key. This was inspired by the song "Jejune Stars," specifically the lyrics, "Come fire, come water, come karma, we're all in transition." Video embedded below.

I haven't been doing this, but I'm going to take a second to say a bit about this album. I've always hated Bright Eyes. A lot. I decided to check out this album when it was released, and immediately something clicked with me big time. Hearing this album for the first time gave me the strangest feeling of familiarity—the lyrics felt like my thoughts put to verse. I listened to this record over and over and over this year (it was released in January) and I still feel that strange connection. Amen.

Thanks to everyone who stuck with me through this countdown, and I hope that you enjoyed looking at it as much as liked creating it. There's a recap with links at the bottom of this post, and you can check out the Flickr set of images if you'd like.